2007 Ground Water Summit

Monday, April 30, 2007 : 11:10 a.m.

How Much Water Is Truly Used by Industry in the Gas-Producing Barnett Shale Area: History and Projections

Jean-Philippe Nicot and Eric C. Potter, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology

The Barnett Shale play, located in North Texas and currently the most prolific onshore natural gas play in the country, has seen a quick growth in the past decade with the development of new “frac” (aka, fracture stimulation) technologies needed to create pathways to produce gas in the very low permeability shales. This technology uses a large amount of fresh water (millions of gallons in a day or two on average) to develop a gas well. There are currently over 5600 wells producing gas from the Barnett Shale with thousands more likely to be drilled in the next couple of decades as the play expands out of its core area. A typical vertical and horizontal well completion consumes approximately 1.2 and 3.0 to 3.5 millions gallons of fresh water, respectively. Almost 8,000 acre-feet of water was used in 2005 mostly in an area equivalent to a Texas county. This has raised some concerns among local communities and other groundwater stakeholders, especially in the footprint of the Trinity Aquifer.

We present results of a recent study assessing future groundwater use by industry in the Barnett Shale area. Total water use is highly uncertain, being dependent above all on the price of gas. Other important factors include geologic risk factors in the Barnett, technological factors (horizontal vs. vertical wells, water recycling), operational factors (number of well completions that can be done in a year, proximity of a fresh water source), and regulatory factors. We then contrast the gas play-specific groundwater use to other groundwater usages at the county level.

Jean-Philippe Nicot, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Jean-Philippe (JP) Nicot works for the Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, University Station Box X, Austin, Texas 78713-8924, U.S.A.; Tel. 512-471-1534; Fax: 512-471-0140; email: jp.nicot@beg.utexas.edu. JP has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. His current interests include hydrogeological aspects of carbon storage and desalination.

Eric C. Potter, Texas Bureau of Economic Geology Eric Potter is Associate Director at the Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, University Station Box X, Austin, Texas 78713-8924, U.S.A.; Tel. 512-471-1534; Fax: 512-471-0140; email:eric.potter@beg.utexas.edu. His current interests include all aspects of oil and gas exploration.


The 2007 Ground Water Summit